Quick release fasteners of the spiral cam type are well known and have been in use for many years. These fasteners generally consist of a fastener stud having a head with a dependent shank having a spiral slot extending inwardly from the outer end thereof and terminating in a locking shoulder. Upon rotation, usually through a quarter turn, a fastener stud can be interengaged with a spring or receptacle. Fasteners of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,955,740 dated Apr. 24, 1934. Various types of receptacles having locking bars or springs for interengagement with the stud and disposed within a casing have been provided in the past, as shown for instance in U.S. Pat. No. 2,337,457 of Dec. 21, 1943, U.S. Pat. No. 2,347,675 of May 2, 1944, U.S. Pat. No. 2,424,603 of July 29, 1947 (U.S. Pat. No. Re 24,028), U.S. Pat. No. 2,527,408 of Oct. 24, 1950, U.S. Pat. No. 2,547,155 of Apr. 3, 1951 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,287 of Oct. 14, 1980.
For our present purposes, these fastener receptacles provided one or more disadvantages. Thus, some of them require riveting for installation, which is expensive and time consuming. Others do not have a completely sealed enclosure and accordingly do not provide protection against dust, weather and radiofrequency leakage; while still others require considerable space for installing on a supporting member to be secured by the fastener.
For many purposes, it is desirable to have an improved receptacle for a quick release fastener of the spiral cam type which is simple to install, occupies a minimum of space and which provides protection against dust and weather and minimizes radiofrequency leakage.